An enclosed kitchen is easier to keep clean than an open floor plan kitchen, for example, because items are contained within the physical limitations of the space. Or, at the very least, the closed kitchen can be exited with a door shut behind, limiting the mess’ effect on the rest of the household and space, particularly the main, high-traffic rooms.

Did you know that, although it sounds terribly modern and technical, underfloor heating actually dates back hundreds, by some counts thousands, of years? The Romans, for example, warmed rooms in their homes by running the flues for their “basement” fires, tended religiously by slaves, under elevated floors of marble.

Underfloor heating (and cooling, although this article focuses on the heating aspects solely) is, in a nutshell, a form of central heating that achieves indoor climate (temperature) control using conduction, radiation, and convection. Underfloor heating is also commonly known as radiant heating, simply because radiation is responsible for much of the heat felt. (Although this is technically not always the case.)